Congenital Heart Defect Week

Congenital Heart Defect Week

During National Heart Month, we can’t forget about kids with Congenital Heart Defects or Childhood Heart Disease. Support for this special week in February involves a coalition of families, non-profit groups, individuals and healthcare professionals whose goal is to raise awareness of this issue around the world.

CHD, affecting nearly 2 million families in the United States alone, is the most common birth defect. It is also the number one cause of death related to a birth defect. The coalition hopes to increase awareness and educate as many people as possible so that early diagnosis and care may result.

This is the short list, there are actually many more. Heart defects are as varied as the children who have them. Many can be fixed surgically; others have symptoms that are controlled with medications.

These defects can be caused by many environmental factors or genetics. Some of the most common risk factors are:

Report any symptoms to your doctor, and ask for a cardiology check. Some symptoms are so mild that a diagnosis of a congenital defect is made during teen or even adult years. However, these symptoms can mean an undiagnosed disaster for a child. Make sure you report them to a doctor even if they seem temporary, or come and go.

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators.The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.